Possible Father and Daughter project, 88 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Classic Brougham
- Thread starter Olds 307 and 403
- Start date
Well, this has been more fun that I thought it would be. Unless you like cutting and grinding, don't run a mechanical fuel pump. Also send the Ford crank pulley to Larry to modify, pain to mark and get right. If the original balancer ring is there, it makes a good template. The stock top rad hose will not work and the 950K6 belt is too short. I would have to max out the tensioner to even get the belt on.get the belt on. Any tips to figure out belt length is appreciated. Would I do this again probably not. The R4 compressor was a PIA to pull the clutch and reassemble. This is no fault of Larry's, his brackets are good. I still need to make a brace for the passenger side, will definitely need the support, I can see flexing.
Good idea, there needs to be a sticky. I bent a turnbuckle I had, too long but a shorter one should line up where the old non A/C alternator top bracket bolted to the intake. Here is the belt installed, maybe the tension is OK.
What are you guys thoughts on the belt tension? I will compare to to the truck and Challenger. I picked up a couple of small turnbuckles to support the passenger side bracket. Top hose will be in Thursday. So just wire the alternator, fill the coolant and power steering and put in a battery to fire. I hope my new Remy 105 amp CS130 CS130 alternator doesn't squeak. Sounded squeaky spinning the pulley. It is supposed to new, not reman and a lifetime warranty.
Update, I found the sbc brackets need to be reamed out so they sit tight against the aluminum adapters, makes sense. Since a 9/16" drill bit is expensive and hard to find, my widest stepped drill bit worked like a charm. It makes the long, small head intake bolt I used near the fuel pump nearly to long and the outside one on the power steering/alt bracket almost the same. Everything lined up nicely and no belts jumping off at fast idle. It does make a bit of a whirring sound but nothing too loud. Now to fit the 70S rad in this car, I will need to cut the support on the passenger side to fit in the 34" wide rad. The other rad was half plugged, almost overheating without A/C and I am not paying $250 for a Spectra aluminum/plastic G body rad up here.
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Extreme Supreme
New member
Larry, I think the belt is too tight. I will keep that belt as an emergency spare. For serpentine length, the last 3 numbers are the length in inches correct? So my 950 is 95", correct? I can get a 955, 95.5" and a 967, 96.7" belt in town. Not sure 1/2" will reduce tension enough, way tighter than my Dakota and even tighter than the less 30000 KM belt on my Challenger. I know the rope method. I was originally going to go with a 960 belt, I should have. I spun everything by had the only bad sound was a squeak from my brand new Remy alternator but turned smooth. I may need to check it again.
Intragration
Member
Ha ha belt tension. Yeah, I've bought a lot of belts over the years. V, not serpentine, but it's been a trial-and-error process for me. Not personally a fan of serpentines, but having the tensioner makes length a little less critical, as long as it fits on and is fully-tensioned. Good luck with the paint!
That is my understanding on Serpentine belts, this one has a lot of tension and the tensioner is just about maxed out. I am going to try a 1" and 1.7" longer belt. I actually do not like how complex Olds v belt set up is. Just a few more hours of body work left, then sheet of the garage clean, tape off, then primer. I was going to try and resurrect the panel behind the rear window but said screw it, too rusty and need the non vinyl top window trim anyways.
Well, I learned a lot. First the new compressor is awesome, so quiet and powerful. Second the Princess Auto Pro Point guns live up to reviews, very nice for the cheap price, any issues were product or user error. I am surprised how controllable HVLP guns are and how little overspray there was. I need to get a roof on the 10 x 24 space beside the shop, I barely had space to paint the 88. Third rushing this I went Duplicolor Paint Shop. This stuff is not cheap but forgiving being a Lacquer. Expect 6 cans of primer and 6 to 8 cans of paint, I bought 4 cans of primer which barely covered. Also 4 cans of paint, enough to cover one side properly. It looked OK till one spot sagged, pretty sure I didn't touch it. Their Molten Red Metallic is a nice Cherry Red, darker than I thought. I didn't get any tiger striping which isp nice. Also I will get the machine to shake it next time to finish this. The paint wasn't bad but the primer had many chunks in it, probably all part of the premixed non sense, plugged my gun twice. I really watched and worked around it when pouring, leaving the last little bit. I will get a picture up tomorrow of my daughter in her grad dress. All in all a good learning experience. My body work was blah, I will be spending many more hours on the 70 slowly sanding down paint to the original lacquer at minimum and making sure any filler is completely smooth. At least the 88 although wavy won't be a huge orange peel embarrassment that it was, now the 260 powerplant will be king in that department.
I picked up a Continental 96" and 96.7" belt. They have two sets of numbers, which is confusing. I would not go less than a 96" belt, honestly not much different than the 95" for tension. I like how the 96.7" belt is for tension, hopefully it will stay that way after break in. All the accessories turn nice and smooth, alternator is still squeaky but not rough.
Well I changed direction to finish this dam thing. To cover my ugly body work I sanded what paint was on there. I have decided Tremclad(Rustoleum in Canada)Red Primer and then Tremclad clear coat sprayed on with my gun. It has covered a lot of ugly and it will look OK on this car. I must say I did a very good job on the roof, you would think it was a hard top car, so that is my positive for body work. This Tremclad is horrible to spray. It lays down nice but constantly plugs the gun filter every couple of feet, even filtered and thinned. I am not going to bother thining or straining it this coat. I have to say the 70S will turn out much better, I plan buying the quality primer and paint for it in the original colour. It will cost the same as the Duplicolor Paint Shop and actually cover. Life, just one big learning curve. What you put in is what you get back.
I also need a selector shaft seal, second 2004R had that happen to. That is the main leak on my 2004R and they have it in stock.
Car is painted, red primer then clearcoat. The bottom feed suction non HVLP paint gun didn't plug and worked great. Looks OK for what it is. Pics this week.